Abstract

Protein synthesis is fundamental to all living organisms and it has been studied. intensively and at varying levels of complexity but, as Waterlow (1995) pointsout, a primary motivation for early interest was to help solve important humanhealth problems such as malnutrition in infants. Many excellent recent reviewschart theoretical and practical developments in human and animal (mammalian)protein nutrition (Fuller and Garlick, 1994; Kimball et ai., 1994; Waterlow, 1995,1999; Millward, 1998; Lobley et al., 1999). The study of protein synthesis in ectotherms,particularly fish, has also received attention (Haschemeyer, 1973; Fauconneau,1985; Houlihan, 1991; Houlihan et ai., 1993a, 1995a,b). A recent moti31